Brett Archibald. Photo: Searching For Brett Archibald Facebook
It’s obvious that surfers need to know how to swim. But could a surfer tread water for 27 hours? Well, South African surfer Brett Archibald can. Not that he’d ever want to do it again.
Archibald traveled from Cape Town, South Africa to Padang, Indonesia with his sights set on surfing the Mentawais. Then, while aboard the Naga Laut tour boat, he fell overboard after getting seasick in the middle of the night during high seas. Archibald described the experience to Australia Surfing Life:
We were in a bad crossing, the seas were really rough. I went up on deck to take a wee and drink some water, and then realized I was really seasick. I had two really big vomits, and then I think I blacked out while I was wretching. I don’t remember falling overboard or anything, if you fell you would know, you’d try grab a rope or something. But I woke up in the water with no lifejacket, the boat 100 metres ahead of me with no tender behind it. It was 3.15am, there was a dark storm, I’m in the middle of this nasty strait, I saw the boat sailing off and I thought it was all over.
Colin Chenu, John McGroder, Tony “Doris” Eltherington and five other passengers of the Barrenjoey vessel retrieved Archibald from the Indian Ocean, about twelve miles from his final destination in the Mentawais. In a Huffington Post article, Archibald said:
“The human body is an amazing, amazing thing. I don’t think I could have gone much beyond today, by the time night came I might have been cactus. I had to get my rhythm, I was treading water for five minutes, then I’d swim again. I saw land five times, but I could never get closer, the current pulled me away every time.”
After being found, Archibald was taken to West Sumatra for treatment, but that didn’t put an end to his surf trip. Not according to his interview with Surfing Life.
“They make us tough in Saffa-land boy!” said Archibald. “We’ve got eight days left on our trip; I can’t go to hospital, we’ve got to surf.”
A map detailing Brett Archibald 27-hour journey at sea.
